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  1. Fulltext Determinants of academics' job satisfaction: empirical evidence from private universities in Bangladesh
    Masum AK, Azad MA, Beh LS
    PLoS One, 2015;10(2):e0117834.
    PMID: 25699518 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117834
    The job satisfaction of academics is related to a number of variables of complex function such as demographic characters, the work itself, pay, work responsibilities, variety of tasks, promotional opportunities, relationship with co-workers and others. Academics may be simultaneously satisfied with some facets of the job and dissatisfied with others. This paper aims at determining the influential factors that contribute to the enhancement or reduction of academics' job satisfaction among private universities in Bangladesh with special reference to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. A total of 346 respondents are considered from ten private universities using non-probability sampling. A pre-tested and closed-ended questionnaire using a seven-point Likert scale is used for data collection. In this study, descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation, multiple regression, and factor analysis are exercised as statistical tools. A conceptual model of job satisfaction is developed and applied for academics' job satisfaction. The results reveal that compensation package, supervisory support, job security, training and development opportunities, team cohesion, career growth, working conditions, and organizational culture and policies are positively associated with the academics' job satisfaction. Amongst them, three factors stood out as significant contributors for job satisfaction of academics i.e. compensation package, job security, and working conditions. Therefore, the management of private universities should focus their effort on these areas of human resource management for maintaining academics' job satisfaction and employee retention. The study will be useful for university management in improving overall job satisfaction as it suggests some strategies for employee satisfaction practices.
  2. Fulltext Numerical method using cubic B-spline for a strongly coupled reaction-diffusion system
    Abbas M, Majid AA, Md Ismail AI, Rashid A
    PLoS One, 2014;9(1):e83265.
    PMID: 24427270 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083265
    In this paper, a numerical method for the solution of a strongly coupled reaction-diffusion system, with suitable initial and Neumann boundary conditions, by using cubic B-spline collocation scheme on a uniform grid is presented. The scheme is based on the usual finite difference scheme to discretize the time derivative while cubic B-spline is used as an interpolation function in the space dimension. The scheme is shown to be unconditionally stable using the von Neumann method. The accuracy of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by applying it on a test problem. The performance of this scheme is shown by computing L∞ and L2 error norms for different time levels. The numerical results are found to be in good agreement with known exact solutions.
  3. Fulltext Turkish health system reform from the people's perspective: a cross sectional study
    Ali Jadoo SA, Aljunid SM, Sulku SN, Nur AM
    BMC Health Serv Res, 2014;14:30.
    PMID: 24447374 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-14-30
    Since 2003, Turkey has implemented major health care reforms to develop easily accessible, high-quality, efficient, and effective healthcare services for the population. The purpose of this study was to bring out opinions of the Turkish people on health system reform process, focusing on several aspects of health system and assessing whether the public prefer the current health system or that provided a decade ago.
  4. Fulltext Updated parameters and expanded simulation options for a model of the auditory periphery
    Zilany MS, Bruce IC, Carney LH
    J Acoust Soc Am, 2014 Jan;135(1):283-6.
    PMID: 24437768 DOI: 10.1121/1.4837815
    A phenomenological model of the auditory periphery in cats was previously developed by Zilany and colleagues [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 126, 2390-2412 (2009)] to examine the detailed transformation of acoustic signals into the auditory-nerve representation. In this paper, a few issues arising from the responses of the previous version have been addressed. The parameters of the synapse model have been readjusted to better simulate reported physiological discharge rates at saturation for higher characteristic frequencies [Liberman, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 63, 442-455 (1978)]. This modification also corrects the responses of higher-characteristic frequency (CF) model fibers to low-frequency tones that were erroneously much higher than the responses of low-CF model fibers in the previous version. In addition, an analytical method has been implemented to compute the mean discharge rate and variance from the model's synapse output that takes into account the effects of absolute refractoriness.
  5. Fulltext Nanoscale drug delivery systems and the blood-brain barrier
    Alyautdin R, Khalin I, Nafeeza MI, Haron MH, Kuznetsov D
    Int J Nanomedicine, 2014;9:795-811.
    PMID: 24550672 DOI: 10.2147/IJN.S52236
    The protective properties of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are conferred by the intricate architecture of its endothelium coupled with multiple specific transport systems expressed on the surface of endothelial cells (ECs) in the brain's vasculature. When the stringent control of the BBB is disrupted, such as following EC damage, substances that are safe for peripheral tissues but toxic to neurons have easier access to the central nervous system (CNS). As a consequence, CNS disorders, including degenerative diseases, can occur independently of an individual's age. Although the BBB is crucial in regulating the biochemical environment that is essential for maintaining neuronal integrity, it limits drug delivery to the CNS. This makes it difficult to deliver beneficial drugs across the BBB while preventing the passage of potential neurotoxins. Available options include transport of drugs across the ECs through traversing occludins and claudins in the tight junctions or by attaching drugs to one of the existing transport systems. Either way, access must specifically allow only the passage of a particular drug. In general, the BBB allows small molecules to enter the CNS; however, most drugs with the potential to treat neurological disorders other than infections have large structures. Several mechanisms, such as modifications of the built-in pumping-out system of drugs and utilization of nanocarriers and liposomes, are among the drug-delivery systems that have been tested; however, each has its limitations and constraints. This review comprehensively discusses the functional morphology of the BBB and the challenges that must be overcome by drug-delivery systems and elaborates on the potential targets, mechanisms, and formulations to improve drug delivery to the CNS.
  6. Fulltext Anti- and pro-lipase activity of selected medicinal, herbal and aquatic plants, and structure elucidation of an anti-lipase compound
    Ado MA, Abas F, Mohammed AS, Ghazali HM
    Molecules, 2013;18(12):14651-69.
    PMID: 24287996 DOI: 10.3390/molecules181214651
    Plants that help in slowing down the digestion of triacylglycerols (TAGs) in the pancreas and small intestine of humans play an important role in the reduction of obesity. On the other hand, there may be plants or plant parts that stimulate intestinal lipolytic activity, thus contributing to greater TAG assimilation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the aqueous methanolic extracts of ninety eight (98) medicinal, herbal and aquatic plant materials from Malaysia for their effect on porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) activity and to identify the structure of an anti-lipase compound from one of the sources. The degree of inhibition was also quantified as relative to orlistat activity against PPL (orlistat equivalents). Results revealed that while 19.4% of the extracts were found to have anti-lipase activity ≥80%, 12% were actually found to promote PPL activity. Twenty two percent (22.4%) exhibited moderate inhibition (41%-80%) and 2% were neutral toward PPL activity. The ripe fruit of Averrhoa carambola and the leaves of Archidendron jiringa (Jack) I.C Nielsen L. (jering), Cynometra cauliflora (nam-nam) and Aleurites moluccana (L.) Willd (candle nut/buah keras) had the highest (100%) anti-lipase activity and are equivalent to 0.11 µg orlistat/mL. Plants that stimulated lipase activity included Pimpinella anisum L. (aniseed/jintan manis), activating the enzyme by 186.5%. Kaempferol 3-O-rhamnoside was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of C. cauliflora leaves and found to be an active lipase inhibitor. The structure was elucidated using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and 2D-NMR analyses.
  7. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Malay language version of the TZO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life questionnaire: A health-related quality of life instrument for preschool children
    Tay CG, Jalaludin MY, Low WY, Lim CT
    J Child Health Care, 2015 Jun;19(2):167-81.
    PMID: 24154842 DOI: 10.1177/1367493513503583
    The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the translated Malay language version of TZO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire in preschool children. Preterm children and term children aged between two and five years were enrolled into the study. The Malay language version of TAPQOL and a set of questions regarding the child's health status were answered by the caregivers. The internal consistency, Spearman's correlation coefficients and principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation and Mann-Whitney U test for group comparison were employed to evaluate the psychometric properties of this instrument. A total of 258 children (120 preterm children and 138 term children) were recruited to this study with a response rate of 94%. All (sub)domains except one had Cronbach's α coefficients of more than .7. The Spearman's correlation coefficients between 12 subdomains were generally low. PCA supported the structural unidimensionality of the items in the instrument. Preterm children had lower quality of life scores than that of term children. Malay version of TAPQOL has multidimensional construct. It is a reliable and valid instrument for preschool children, with almost similar psychometric properties to the original version.
  8. Hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction with in situ derivatization for the determination of trace amounts of metformin hydrochloride (anti-diabetic drug) in biological fluids
    Ben-Hander GM, Makahleh A, Saad B, Saleh MI
    J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci, 2013 Dec 15;941:123-30.
    PMID: 24200841 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2013.10.007
    A three phase hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction with in situ derivatization (in situ HF-LPME) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) method was developed for the trace determination of metformin hydrochloride (MH) in biological fluids. A new derivatization agent pentafluorobenzoyl chloride (PFBC) was used. Several parameters that affect the derivatization and extraction efficiency were studied and optimized (i.e., type of organic solvent, volume of NaOH (4M) and derivatization agent in the donor phase, acceptor phase (HCl) concentration, stirring speed, temperature, time and salt addition). Under the optimum conditions (organic solvent, dihexyl ether; volume of NaOH (4M) and derivatization agent (10mg PFBC in 1mL acetonitrile) in the donor phase, 600 and100μL, respectively; acceptor phase, 100mM HCl (10μL); stirring speed, 300rpm; extraction time, 30min; derivatization temperature, 70°C; without addition of salt) an enrichment factor of 210-fold was achieved. Good linearity was observed over the range of 1-1000ngmL(-1) (r(2)=0.9998). The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.56 and 1.68ngmL(-1), respectively. The proposed method has been applied for the determination of MH in biological fluids (plasma and urine) and water samples. Prior to the microextraction treatment of plasma samples, deproteinization step using acetonitrile was conducted. The proposed method is simple, rapid, sensitive and suitable for the determination of MH in a variety of samples.
  9. Fulltext Phytochemistry and medicinal properties of Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl. extracts
    Altaf R, Asmawi MZ, Dewa A, Sadikun A, Umar MI
    Pharmacogn Rev, 2013 Jan;7(13):73-80.
    PMID: 23922460 DOI: 10.4103/0973-7847.112853
    Phaleria macrocarpa, commonly known as Mahkota dewa is a medicinal plant that is indigenous to Indonesia and Malaysia. Extracts of P. macrocarpa have been used since years in traditional medicine that are evaluated scientifically as well. The extracts are reported for a number of valuable medicinal properties such as anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and vasorelaxant effect. The constituents isolated from different parts of P. macrocarpa include Phalerin, gallic acid, Icaricide C, magniferin, mahkoside A, dodecanoic acid, palmitic acid, des-acetylflavicordin-A, flavicordin-A, flavicordin-D, flavicordin-A glucoside, ethyl stearate, lignans, alkaloids andsaponins. The present review is an up-to-date summary of occurrence, botanical description, ethnopharmacology, bioactivity and toxicological studies related to P. macrocarpa.
  10. Finite element analysis of zygomatic implants in intrasinus and extramaxillary approaches for prosthetic rehabilitation in severely atrophic maxillae
    Ishak MI, Kadir MR, Sulaiman E, Kasim NH
    Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants, 2013 May-Jun;28(3):e151-60.
    PMID: 23748334 DOI: 10.11607/jomi.2304
    To compare the extramaxillary approach with the widely used intrasinus approach via finite element method.
  11. Fulltext Antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antitumor activities of essential oil of Agastache rugosa from Xinjiang, China
    Haiyan G, Lijuan H, Shaoyu L, Chen Z, Ashraf MA
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2016 Jul;23(4):524-30.
    PMID: 27298587 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.02.020
    In the study, we evaluated chemical composition and antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and antitumor activities of essential oils from dried leaf essential oil of leaf and flower of Agastache rugosa for the first time. Essential oil of leaf and flower was evaluated with GC and GC-MS methods, and the essential oil of flower revealed the presence of 21 components, whose major compounds were pulegone (34.1%), estragole (29.5%), and p-Menthan-3-one (19.2%). 26 components from essential oil of leaf were identified, the major compounds were p-Menthan-3-one (48.8%) and estragole (20.8%). At the same time, essential oil of leaf, there is a very effective antimicrobial activity with MIC ranging from 9.4 to 42 μg ml(-1) and potential antibiofilm, antitumor activities for essential oils of flower and leaf essential oil of leaf. The study highlighted the diversity in two different parts of A. rugosa grown in Xinjiang region and other places, which have different active constituents. Our results showed that this native plant may be a good candidate for further biological and pharmacological investigations.
  12. Fulltext Analgesic effect and possible mechanism of SCH772984 intrathecal injection on rats with bone cancer pain
    Bian J, Zhu S, Ma W, Li C, Ashraf MA
    Saudi Pharm J, 2016 May;24(3):354-62.
    PMID: 27275127 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsps.2016.04.017
    This study is to establish a model of rat tibial osteocarcinoma pain, intrathecally inject specific ERK1/2 inhibitors SCH772984, observe the analgesic effect, and discuss the influence of ERK-P90RSK-Fos signal path in bone cancer pain. Forty female SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups. Establish a bone cancer pain model after putting the intrathecal tube 5d and determine the rats' mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) after tube 5d; 40 SD rats with intrathecal tube back 5d were randomly divided into 5 groups. Sham Group receives no medication, the other four respectively receive 5% DMSO 10 μl, SCH 0.1, 1.0, 10 μg (SCH dissolved in 10 μl 5% DMSO) intrathecally. Determine the rats' mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) before and after giving medication 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24 h, and 2 min spontaneous paw withdrawal. Western blot and immuno-fluorescence determine the expression condition of spinal cord dorsal horn of p-ERK, p-p90RSK and Fos protein. Intrathecal injection of SCH772984 has analgesic effects on rats with bone cancer pain, and the effects enhance with increasing dose; intrathecal injection of SCH772984 10 μg could greatly reduce the expression of spinal dorsal horn Fos protein. Injecting walker 256 tumor cells into rats' tibia could cause behavior changes, such as idiopathic pain sensitivity and pain; the intrathecal tube almost has no effect on motor function of rats; ERK1/2 is involved in bone cancer pain, and intrathecal injection of ERK1/2 specific inhibitors SCH772984 10 μg may effectively relieve bone cancer pain.
  13. Fulltext Hypoglycaemic activity of ethanolic extract of Garcinia mangostana Linn. in normoglycaemic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
    Taher M, Tg Zakaria TM, Susanti D, Zakaria ZA
    BMC Complement Altern Med, 2016;16(1):135.
    PMID: 27208974 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-016-1118-9
    Various parts of Garcinia mangostana Linn., including its pericarp, have been traditionally used to treat a variety of ailments. In an attempt to establish its medicinal value, the present study was carried out to determine the hypoglycaemic potential of G. mangostana pericarp ethanolic extract (GME) using the streptozotocin-induced (STZ) diabetic rats.
  14. Fulltext Front to back ocular injury from a vaping-related explosion
    Khairudin MN, Mohd Zahidin AZ, Bastion ML
    BMJ Case Rep, 2016 Apr 05;2016.
    PMID: 27048399 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2016-214964
    We describe a case of extensive ocular injury secondary to an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette)-related explosion. The explosion was the result of modifications made to a heating element of the e-cigarette device by a non-professional. Extensive ocular injuries that result from an explosion of an e-cigarette device can potentially cause significant and permanent visual impairment.
  15. Fulltext Antibacterial Properties and Effects of Fruit Chilling and Extract Storage on Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenolic and Anthocyanin Content of Four Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) Cultivars
    Samad MA, Hashim SH, Simarani K, Yaacob JS
    Molecules, 2016 Mar 26;21(4):419.
    PMID: 27023514 DOI: 10.3390/molecules21040419
    Phoenix dactylifera or date palm fruits are reported to contain natural compounds that exhibit antioxidant and antibacterial properties. This research aimed to study the effect of fruit chilling at 4 °C for 8 weeks, extract storage at -20 °C for 5 weeks, and extraction solvents (methanol or acetone) on total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity and antibacterial properties of Saudi Arabian P. dactylifera cv Mabroom, Safawi and Ajwa, as well as Iranian P. dactylifera cv Mariami. The storage stability of total anthocyanin content (TAC) was also evaluated, before and after storing the extracts at -20 °C and 4 °C respectively, for 5 weeks. Mariami had the highest TAC (3.18 ± 1.40 mg cyd 3-glu/100 g DW) while Mabroom had the lowest TAC (0.54 ± 0.15 mg cyd 3-glu/100 g DW). The TAC of all extracts increased after storage. The chilling of date palm fruits for 8 weeks prior to solvent extraction elevated the TPC of all date fruit extracts, except for methanolic extracts of Mabroom and Mariami. All IC50 values of all cultivars decreased after the fruit chilling treatment. Methanol was a better solvent compared to acetone for the extraction of phenolic compounds in dates. The TPC of all cultivars extracts decreased after 5 weeks of extract storage. IC50 values of all cultivars extracts increased after extract storage except for the methanolic extracts of Safawi and Ajwa. Different cultivars exhibited different antibacterial properties. Only the methanolic extract of Ajwa exhibited antibacterial activity against all four bacteria tested: Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Serratia marcescens and Escherichia coli. These results could be useful to the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries in the development of natural compound-based products.
  16. Fulltext Knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicines among pharmacy students of a Malaysian public university
    Jamshed SQ, Khan MU, Ahmad A, Elkalmi RM
    J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2016 3 10;8(1):34-8.
    PMID: 26957866 DOI: 10.4103/0975-7406.171686
    BACKGROUND: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is consistently on the rise worldwide. Consumers often consider pharmacists as a major source of information about CAM products and their safety. Due to the limitation of data, it is worth exploring the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of pharmacy students toward CAM.
    OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of pharmacy students regarding the use of CAM in Malaysia.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted for 3 months among Bachelor of Pharmacy students in a public sector University of Malaysia. A pretested, self-administered questionnaire, comprised four sections, was used to collect the data from 440 participants. Descriptive analysis was used, and Chi-square test was used to test the association between dependent and independent variables.
    RESULTS: Of 440 questionnaire distributed, 287 were returned giving a response rate of (65.2%). The results showed that 38.6% participants gave correct answers when asked about the use of herbal products with digoxin. Majority of the participants were knowledgeable about supplementary therapy (25.3%) while the lack of knowledge was mostly evident in traditional Chinese medicines (73.7%). Majority of the students were either neutral (49.5%) or disagreed that (42.8%) CAM use is unsafe. Females were more in disagreement to the statements than males (P = 0.007). Majority of students also agreed to use CAM therapies for their health and well-being (51.2%).
    CONCLUSION: The study revealed that pharmacy students did not have adequate knowledge of CAM though their attitudes and perceptions were relatively positive.
  17. Fulltext Reference-Free Assessment of Speech Intelligibility Using Bispectrum of an Auditory Neurogram
    Hossain ME, Jassim WA, Zilany MS
    PLoS One, 2016;11(3):e0150415.
    PMID: 26967160 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150415
    Sensorineural hearing loss occurs due to damage to the inner and outer hair cells of the peripheral auditory system. Hearing loss can cause decreases in audibility, dynamic range, frequency and temporal resolution of the auditory system, and all of these effects are known to affect speech intelligibility. In this study, a new reference-free speech intelligibility metric is proposed using 2-D neurograms constructed from the output of a computational model of the auditory periphery. The responses of the auditory-nerve fibers with a wide range of characteristic frequencies were simulated to construct neurograms. The features of the neurograms were extracted using third-order statistics referred to as bispectrum. The phase coupling of neurogram bispectrum provides a unique insight for the presence (or deficit) of supra-threshold nonlinearities beyond audibility for listeners with normal hearing (or hearing loss). The speech intelligibility scores predicted by the proposed method were compared to the behavioral scores for listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss both in quiet and under noisy background conditions. The results were also compared to the performance of some existing methods. The predicted results showed a good fit with a small error suggesting that the subjective scores can be estimated reliably using the proposed neural-response-based metric. The proposed metric also had a wide dynamic range, and the predicted scores were well-separated as a function of hearing loss. The proposed metric successfully captures the effects of hearing loss and supra-threshold nonlinearities on speech intelligibility. This metric could be applied to evaluate the performance of various speech-processing algorithms designed for hearing aids and cochlear implants.
  18. Analyzing the relationships between travel mode indicators and the number of passenger transport fatalities at the city level
    Asadi-Shekari Z, Moeinaddini M, Sultan Z, Shah MZ, Hamzah A
    Traffic Inj Prev, 2016 08 17;17(6):650-5.
    PMID: 26890058 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2015.1136739
    OBJECTIVE: A number of efforts have been conducted on travel behavior and transport fatalities at the neighborhood or street level, and they have identified different factors such as roadway characteristics, personal indicators, and design indicators related to transport safety. However, only a limited number of studies have considered the relationship between travel behavior indicators and the number of transport fatalities at the city level. Therefore, this study explores this relationship and how to fill the mentioned gap in current knowledge.

    METHOD: A generalized linear model (GLM) estimates the relationships between different travel mode indicators (e.g., length of motorway per inhabitants, number of motorcycles per inhabitant, percentage of daily trips on foot and by bicycle, percentage of daily trips by public transport) and the number of passenger transport fatalities. Because this city-level model is developed using data sets from different cities all over the world, the impacts of gross domestic product (GDP) are also included in the model.

    CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results imply that the percentage of daily trips by public transport, the percentage of daily trips on foot and by bicycle, and the GDP per inhabitant have negative relationships with the number of passenger transport fatalities, whereas motorway length and the number of motorcycles have positive relationships with the number of passenger transport fatalities.

  19. Poverty within watershed and environmentally protected areas: the case of the indigenous community in Peninsular Malaysia
    Kari FB, Masud MM, Yahaya SR, Saifullah MK
    Environ Monit Assess, 2016 Mar;188(3):173.
    PMID: 26887312 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-016-5162-1
    "Indigenous people" have been acknowledged as among the poorest and most socio-economically and culturally marginalized all over the world. This paper explores the socio-economic status of the indigenous people and their poverty profile within watershed and environmentally protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia. The findings of the study indicate that the "indigenous community" is likely to be poor if they live in environmentally sensitive and unprotected areas as compared to families under the new resettlement scheme. Inadequate access to basic education and employment contributed significantly to their poor economic status. The findings further reveal that the indigenous community is facing difficulties in receiving access and support in terms of basic needs such as housing, education, economic livelihood, and other social infrastructure. Moreover, the regulatory structure for the management of watershed areas as well as the emphasis for commodity crops such as palm oil and natural rubber have indirectly contributed toward the poverty level of the indigenous people.
  20. Hepatoprotective effects of Flagellaria indica are mediated through the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress markers in rats
    Gnanaraj C, Shah MD, Makki JS, Iqbal M
    Pharm Biol, 2016 Aug;54(8):1420-33.
    PMID: 26810847 DOI: 10.3109/13880209.2015.1104697
    Context The antioxidative properties of plants or plant derivative products are well known for their free radical scavenging effects. Flagellaria indica L. (Flagellariaceae) (FI) is a tropical medicinal plant used by the natives of Sabah as medication for semi-paralysis. Objective This study evaluates the hepatoprotective mechanism of FI against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-mediated liver damage. Materials and methods Aqueous extract of FI leaves was orally administered to adult Sprague-Dawley rats once daily for 14 consecutive days at 300, 400, and 500 mg/kg b.w. prior to CCl4 treatment (1.0 mL/kg b.w.) on the 13th and 14th days. Results Total phenolic content in the aqueous extract of FI leaves was 65.88 ± 1.84 mg gallic acid equivalent/g. IC50 value for free radical scavenging activity of FI aqueous extract was reached at the concentration of 400 μg/mL. Biochemical studies show that the aqueous extract of FI was able to prevent the increase in levels of serum transaminases, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase (38-74% recovery), and malondialdehyde formation (25-87% recovery) in a dose-dependent manner. Immunohistochemical results evidenced the suppression of oxidative stress markers (4-hydroxynonenal and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine) and pro-inflammatory markers (tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, prostaglandin E2). Histopathological and hepatocyte ultrastructural alterations proved that there were protective effects in FI against CCl4-mediated liver injury. Signs of toxicity were not present in rats treated with FI alone (500 mg/kg b.w.). Discussion and conclusion It can be concluded that the presence of phenolic constituents and their antioxidative effects can be credited to the hepatoprotective activity of FI.
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